Kate Bush! Kate Bush! Kate Bush!
:: pant pant ::
Kate Bush! Kate Bush! Kate Bush!
:: pant pant ::
I’ll believe it when I see the Goddamned thing on the shelves. “Announced” release dates are notoriously unreliable.
I know what you mean. I would say “But there’s a single now” but I’ve been a fan since 1981, just after the release of the single “Sat In Your Lap” and we expected the album fairly soon. It was another year before The Dreaming came out.
Ah for the days when the gaps were 1, 2 or 4 years long.
Kate means everything to me. I met my husband (of 23 years) because we were both Kate fans. We were the only fans the other knew for a long long time since she never made any kind of a splash in the US.
She was so huge worldwide that people elsewhere who were around in her chart-topping days don’t understand that she never had any kind of hit over here. People over here, who were never properly exposed to her genius, have no idea how special this album release is.
Well, it was brilliant, but then I would say that. It sounds familiar yet otherwordly. It’s about Citizen Kane! Kate wrote a song about Citizen Kane, how cool is that? It should be a massive hit all over the world* for weeks and weeks and weeks.
And with that, I’m going to bed.
*except America
I am damn excited about this, but my Real Player doesn’t work behind our firewall. Does anyone know an outlet that has the song in a different format?
That may '02 picture…Kate has, ehhm, filled out a bit, hasn’t she.
Used to mildly enjoy some KB stuff and found a few of her ideas relatively interesting, though some of it makes me want to take a sledgehammer to the stereo (“Sat In Your Lap”…the fuck?). Here’s hoping it’s worth a listen.
I listened to it just now. I like it! I just discovered her, so I haven’t gotten to listen to all of her albums. I also like “Sat in your Lap”. (where’s the nyah nyah smilie when you need it?)
It’s fantastic, it’s brilliant, it’s KaTe.
I answer my own query.
Thank google for blog searches…
Actually, Kate did make the lower strata of the American Top 40 with “Running Up That Hill” in 1985. As to why she didn’t make a bigger splash here, I’ve heard such explanations as her being too odd, too esoteric, too shrill, too Yoko Ono-ish, too estrogen-laden, too English, and too literary for American listeners of pop music. (After all, how many big hits in the U.S. that were based upon 19th century novels can you name?) Thus, she only found a niche in this country as a cult favorite which meant her songs mainly got played on college/alternative radio stations and her videos were rarely shown on MTV outside of its “120 Minutes” program on Sunday night. However, she has been quite influential on a number of female singer/songwriters in North America (e.g., Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, Sarah McLachlan and the whole “Lilith Fair” set from the late 90’s).
As for myself, I’m not really a fan. I do like some of her stuff but my interest in her is primarily … uh … physical. However, I have been curious about whether (aside from her own projects) anyone has ever tried to cast Kate Bush in any acting roles. I’ve only seen her in few music videos and interviews but she does seem have a certain presence that would work well in theater or movies (a lot better than such pop star wash-outs like Madonna, Britney Spears, or Mariah Carey but, then again, that’s not saying much). I recall reading that Kate has studied acting and wondered why she didn’t try to pursue that field more strongly. Since the people in this thread know a lot more about her than I do, perhaps someone can answer that for me.
Dutch radio has a better-quality stream, and you can fast forward right to KOTM.
Go to http://schiffersfm.radio2.nl/page/artikel/50830 and click “woensdag”. The song’s about 42 minutes into the stream.
There’s now a small picture of the album cover there. As is common for Kate, it looks simple, like a New Agey thing going on, but there’s a lot more happening.
On the surface it’s a picture of water, rocks and sky. But wait, there’s more!
it looks like rocks being reflected in the water, but it’s actually a waveform. (of what? don’t know)
that, if you turn it sideways (to the right), looks very much like a Rorschach test
that, if you turn it sideways the other way (the left), looks very much like an antennae (an aerial, in many places)
if you turn it sideways to the right, there’s a subtle picture of a peaceful Kate with her eyes closed embedded in the “clouds” at the bottom. I see it, anyway.
The water at the bottom looks to be reflecting clouds from above, but the sky is pretty much clear (it almost looks like how it does sometimes when you’re in an airplane above the clouds, and you look down at the tops of the clouds)
the sun is not being reflected on the, um, water.
And that’s what we can tell 9or can’t tell) from a small version!
It all looks very peaceful and serene, but it seems like it’s actually very surreal.
Can’t wait to see a full-size version.
I can’t see the “peaceful Kate” face, but I see the alien face at the bottom.
Of course, we’ll have to wait for a full-sized version or the album itself before we can find the hidden KT symbol.
Kate’s cover of “Sexual Healing” will be the B-side. It’ll be nice to finally have a good copy of it. I first heard it back in 1994!
I can finally see her face!
Cool, I’m glad it’s not just me here.
I just found out the album will be released in Germany November 4, four days before the release in America. I swear, if I had the money, a mini-vacation to Berlin would be in order. I wonder if their Amazon ships to the US…
My god those Google ads make this place look cheap.
You know, I do sometimes still dream of Orgonon.
I’m bumping this thread because I don’t think what I’m about to post belongs in that other thread. This is for die-hards.
Someone on a Kate forum heard the album today and wrote a series of posts on their reactions. I’m going to repost what they said, in spoiler tags. If you don’t want to know anything about the new album, stop now!
**SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!
SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! **
[spoiler]HERE GOES - SPOILER WARNING, DON´t READ IF YOU DON´t WANT TO SEE DESCRIPTIONS OF THE SONGS.
Aerial, CD -1
First impressions
Please note I only had the chance to listen to the album once, so there are thousands of things I haven´t noticed or understood about it.
They also didn´t have the lyrics to show, and that means I could only understand some of it. You know Kate´s singing – my English is quite good, but in many places I just couldn´t be sure what she sang. I didn´t get all of the subject matters of the songs, there will be plenty of it for you to find.
DON´T HANG ME if I have got some words of the lyrics wrong.
The feeling of the whole album is that it as again a new direction for Kate. It does´nt sound very much like earlier albums, although many familiar sounds of Kate are there too.
Adjectives that come to my mind are beautiful, laid back – it is happier music than before. There are melancholic themes and some very intellectual approaches, but the whole of it sounds more joyful than for example TRS.
In places it comes closer to classical music than pop. This is evident in Bertie and Mrs Bartolozzi.
There isn´t that much rock-sounds here, none of the songs is very “rocky”, instead there is a lot of flowing, light, harmonious sounds and laid back rhythms, sometimes jazzy in a light way. Very beautiful soundscapes all around, and strong themes of art and nature.
The second cd is in some ways like The Ninth Wave, in that it really is a whole. You can tell the different songs apart, but certain themes and lines and the using of birds sounds flow through the whole of it.
The first cd, A Sea of Honey, is about 38 minutes altogether.
King of the Mountain is the same version as on the single, not any longer. It is also one of the darkest songs here, and I now understand why it was chosen as single. It is catchier than most of the other songs, as they have more complicated structures or are not suited to the pop formula.
Pi is very interesting. I think it´s a song about the beauty of numbers. It starts with a description of a “sensitive man” , “with obsessive nature”. Much of the lyrics is Kate reciting numbers, the number of Pi, and the chorus goes “we love, love these numbers, they run in great big circles, in a circle of infinity”. There are synth sounds, and the chorus rises with a nice, folky guitar. It runs for about 6 minutes, I think.
Bertie is a song of mother´s love and pride at looking at her son. It starts with the harpsichord, some strings come along, and the beginning and some of it in the middle sounds just like old classical music played at some royal castle centuries ago. But the overall feeling ends very bouncy and light, with Kate singing “here comes the sunshine, here comes that son of mine, lovely Bertie”, “you bring me so much joy, then you bring me more joy”. I think also “sweet kisses, three wishes”. It lasts for about 4 minutes.
Mrs Bartolozzi is just Kate and the piano. It feels larger and more complicated than for example Under the Ivy, though. The lyrics for most of it center around the theme of doing the laundry, like “then I took my laundry basket, all the linen” “it´s just your shirt hanging over the washing line” and the chorus is very exciting: it is just “Washing machine”, sung three times with pauses in between, with a high voice. I can see this one getting some people irritated, it is very “arty”, but I find it a great song. The later lyrics bring in some sensual undertones, I think, and the theme of water, with “all the waves are coming in, all the waves are going out”. Kate´s singing here reminds me of Joni Mitchell and the song is a close relative on some stuff on Jane Siberry´s album The Walking. It lasts for about 6 minutes.
How to be invisible is closer to pop than most stuff here. It has a nice, synth sound going through and a nice beat, though it´s much more laid back than for example RUTH. The lyrics start “I found a book on how to be invisible”, “how to take a peek through a keyhole”, and later talks about standing “on the edge of a labyrinth, stand in front of a million doors…”. This one could be a single, I think, it´s so poppy, though with a dark and mysterious atmosphere. It lasts for about 5 mins.
Joanni is something I believe many fans will love. It is about Joan of Arc. It starts with some synth sounds and percussion comes in. The rhythm is quite slow, though, it builds a strong atmosphere. Kate sings of battles and “horses charging”, and the chorus says “Joanni, Joanni, with the golden cross, she looks so beautiful in her armour”. Near the end she sings some words in French, I think, and ends the song with a poignant “Au revoir”. A gem! It lasts for about 5 mins.
A Coral Room made me sigh with pleasure, it is SO beautiful. This is again a lot of Kate singing over the piano. The beginning describes a city: “and in the half-light, it looks like every town”. Then came the parts that really caught me, she sings of her mother “my mother, and her little brown jug, it held her milk, and now it holds our memories”, and later the jug breaks in the story line. And she repeats these lines so beautifully: “put your hand over the side of the boat – what do you feel?” Reminds me a little of The Fog. It lasts about 5-6 mins.
HERE GOES CD-2. AGAIN SPOILER WARNING, DON´t READ THIS IF YOU DON´t WANT TO SEE DESCRIPTIONS OF THE SONGS.
The second cd, A Sky of Honey, is about 42 mins long.
PLEASE NOTE THIS: While listening to this I got a little mixed up sometimes about when one song changed to the second. Many of them just flow into each other, and some are very short. Because I tried to write down things so fast, my notes are not clear especially on Architect´s dream and Painter´s link, I may have mixed some of their lyrics, REALLY sorry about that.
As a whole there is something about this like the Ninth Wave, but it is much happier, not as dramatic.
The main themes are I think art (like painting, also what it gives to the viewer) and experiencing, enjoying nature.
I can not say exactly what the different parts are deeply about, because here the ideas seemed to flow from one song to another. You need the lyrics and several listenings for that.
The Prelude is a great, short opener with piano and then some birds singing, and Kate imitating bird singing. really sounds interesting.
then there is a voice of a little boy (Bertie?) saying “Mummy? Daddy?”
Comes some dialogue (a male voice), and the Prologue changes into An Architect´s Dream.
This is very poetic and beautiful. (My notes are not clear about instruments but I think synth sounds, piano, strings). It describes nature and a beautiful day “what a lovely afternoon, oh will you come with us…” and there are mentions of birds: “can you see the lark descending”. “Like some kind of magic, like the light in Italy”, and repeated (I think) the words Roma, Roma, bella. Over 5 mins long.
Painter´s link starts with synths and percussion, the mood is very calm, enjoyable. “Watching the painter painting”, “It´s raining, what has become of my painting, all the colours are running “it was an accident, he´s so pleased, it was the best mistake he could make”. There are birds sounds flowing here too. Near the end “a sea of honey, a sky of honey”. 5-6 mins long, I think.
Sunset has very nice bass lines, a light jazzy feel. Here are the birds again: “blackbirds sing at dusk” sing the song of colour, crimson red and rust”, and repeated again: In a sea of honey, a sky of honey. The ending builds into a wonderful, about 2 mins long flamenco-style jamming, the tempo goes up a bit, it is an absolute delight. All of it about 6 mins long.
Aerial Tal is just about 1 minute long. It surprised me, made me smile, it´s just birds singing, Kate singing with them, and the piano.
Somewhere in between is very relaxed, again light jazzy feeling, band playing. It describes a beautiful moment “it was just so beautiful” is repeated, and the state of being “somewhere in between”, like in a dreamy state, “somewhere in between the night and daylight”, “this is where the shadows come to play”. In the end a boy´s voice: Goodnight Mum. About 5 mins long.
Nocturn is long and impressive. Slow in tempo. In the beginning there is quite mysterious choir singing, synths, Kate comes along: “On this midsummer night, everyone is sleeping…” and then describes being at the seaside and later going into the water “ we´re standing at the Atlantic”, “we´re tired f the city, of it all”. Towards the end I really loved the bits about “sky above our heads, sea around our legs, we swim further and further, we dive down”. “On a diamond night, diamond sea, diamond sky”. In the end again repeated a sky of honey, a sea of honey. A dramatic choir appears and sings something with the “aerial” in it. About 9 mins long!
Aerial starts with a faster tempo, there´s almost a dance/rave feeling to some of it, it could be easy to make this into strong dance hit. Again some bird sounds but more synths, rhythm, electric guitar. Kate sings of the nature and of being happy “flowers are melting”, and this is repeated: “I wanna be up, up all around”. At one point it changes: there´s something like a minute of just birds singing and Kate laughing, the laughter is played with like it becomes singing, and: “All of the birds are laughing, come on let´s join in”. Incredibly infectious happiness! The end is something like 2 mins of strong jamming, with “I wanna be up, up all around”, and strong guitar, it will make us all dance like crazy, feeling good! About 7 mins 30 secs.
Phew. I loved it.
[/spoiler]
CAN’T WAIT!